Jacintah Akinyi, a Kenyan mother who gave birth to an extremely rare naturally-conceived quintuplets has lost all five babies.
The 30-year old mother, who did not know she was carrying five babies went into labour on Sunday and gave birth to two babies at home, who both died, before being transferred to the Kisii Teaching and Referral hospital.
Nurse Manager Florence Ogero said a third baby died that night, due to being underweight and suffering a condition caused by low levels of blood platelets. “The other one had severe pneumonia and from all those birth-related complications, these babies have succumbed. It was a premature delivery and the mother did not attend antenatal clinic. The multiple deliveries were diagnosed upon delivery so there was no anticipation. We have tried our level best because they were being taken care of by a competent team” she told AFP.
Akinyi is already the mother of four children, and lost a fifth in an earlier pregnancy. There is a one in 60 million chance of a mother falling pregnant with five babies, without hormone treatment, experts say.